01
The short version
Four questions people actually want answered, before the detail.
- Cookies
- Only if you agreeNone at all unless you answer yes to the analytics question, which writes two
- Analytics
- Ask firstGoogle Analytics 4, and the tag is not fetched until you say yes
- Accounts
- NoneThere is nothing to sign up for and no form that collects anything
- Third parties
- TwoGoogle Fonts on every page, and Google Analytics only after you agree
02
What actually happens when you open a page
In order, and with the parts that involve somebody other than us marked as such.
Your browser asks our server for a page and the server sends it back. Until you answer the question at the bottom of the screen, nothing is stored on your device at all: no cookies, and nothing in local storage. You can verify that in your browser's own developer tools in about ten seconds, which is a better guarantee than this sentence.
The server keeps a log
Like almost every web server, ours writes a line for each request. That line contains the IP address the request came from, the time, the page asked for, the status returned, the number of bytes sent, the page you came from if your browser sent one, and your browser's user agent string.
An IP address is personal data in most jurisdictions that have an opinion on the matter, so this is worth stating plainly rather than describing as technical data. We keep these logs because a server with no log cannot be debugged or defended, and for no other purpose. They are not joined to anything, not shared, and not used to build a profile of anybody.
The logs rotate by size rather than by date. In practice a line survives days rather than months, and nothing is archived off the machine.
Two requests go to Google
The site sets its type in four families served by Google Fonts. Your browser fetches a stylesheet from fonts.googleapis.com and the font files themselves from fonts.gstatic.com. Both requests carry your IP address and user agent to Google, and both are governed by Google's own privacy terms rather than by this page.
These are the only two hosts other than this one that any page on this site contacts. There is no tag manager, no pixel, no embedded video, no comment widget, no chat, no font of any kind loaded from anywhere else, and no advertising.
Page counting, if you allow it
We use Google Analytics 4 to count which pages get read. It is asked for rather than assumed: the Google tag is not in the page, not in the head, and not downloaded until you press the accept button. Refusing loads nothing, and closing the question without answering loads nothing either.
If you accept, Google writes two cookies on this domain, _ga and _ga_KBH32818VQ, which let it tell a returning browser from a new one. We turn off Google Signals, so nothing is joined to a Google account, and we send the request with IP anonymization on. We see page views, referrers and countries. We do not see you.
Your answer is remembered in local storage under the key rw-consent rather than in a cookie, because a consent cookie would make the first line of this page false. It never leaves your browser. Clearing site data for revelwick.com in your browser settings forgets the answer and the question comes back.
If you accepted and want to undo it, clearing site data does both things at once: it removes the stored answer and the two Google cookies. Refusing at the question also expires those cookies rather than leaving them sitting there, which is the part most consent banners quietly skip.
The site is behind Cloudflare
Requests reach us through Cloudflare, which means Cloudflare handles the connection before we do and can see the same request data our own log records. That is how the site is served over HTTPS and kept up under load, and it is a processing relationship worth naming rather than hiding behind the word infrastructure.
03
What we will not do
The commitments below are the ones a site like this can quietly break without anybody noticing, so they are written down.
Sell or share a log line.
The request logs are not sold, rented, shared with a partner, or handed to a data broker. There is no arrangement of any kind under which they leave this server.
Load a tracker before you answer.
The analytics tag is fetched after consent and not before, which is the only version of this that means anything. A banner sitting above a script that has already run is a notice, not a choice.
Use analytics for advertising.
Google Signals is off, remarketing is off, and there is no advertising anywhere on this site. The measurement exists to tell us which pages are read and nothing else.
Build a profile of a reader.
Nothing on this site identifies a returning visitor, because nothing is stored on your device to recognize you by.
Keep almost nothing to be asked about.
The only personal data this site handles is an IP address in a rotating server log, and there is no account, profile or mailing list behind it.
04
Questions with short answers
The ones a privacy page normally buries.
Do you use cookies?
Not until you say yes. Until then a request for any page returns no Set-Cookie header, which you can check in your browser's network panel. If you accept the analytics question, Google writes two.
Do you use Google Analytics?
Yes, if you agree to it. The tag is Google Analytics 4 and it is not downloaded until you press accept, so refusing means the request to Google never happens rather than happening quietly.
How do I change my mind?
Clear site data for revelwick.com in your browser settings. That forgets your stored answer and removes the two Google cookies at the same time, and the question comes back on your next visit.
What is the legal basis for the server logs?
Legitimate interest in operating and defending the service. The logs are not used for marketing, not enriched with anything, and not retained beyond the rotation described above.
Are there affiliate links or advertising?
No advertising anywhere on the site. Where a link goes to a business, it is not attached to a cost figure, and the method page states that rule in full.
How do I ask you to delete something?
There is no public address at the moment. Given that the only personal data here is an IP address in a rotating log, the honest answer is usually that it has already gone.
05